Sep 17 (PRIU) The UN Under Secretary General and Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict Ms. Karin Sham Poo called on President Chandrika Kumaratunga yesterday 16th September at her Manhattan Hotel. more..

Sep 17 (wsws) The Locomotive Operating Engineers Union (LOEU) shut down a seven-day strike by railway drivers on September 6 with none of its demands achieved. The 300 workers, who began an indefinite strike on August 30, had been subject to a sustained campaign of media vilification, threats and scabbing organised by rail authorities with the backing of the police and military. more..

Sep 17 (SLBC) Ministry Buddha Sasana says many investors have come forward to commence a cable car project at Sri Padastanaya. Secretary to Ministry D.W Abeywickrama says many Buddhist countries including Japan, China , Cambodia , Laos and Thailand have inaugurated such facilities at places of Buddhist worship. more..

Sep 17 (SLBC) Concessionary loans will be provided through Samurdhi Banks to low income families and groups of extreme poverty to start self employments. Director of Banking and Finance of the Samurdhi Fund says Samurdhi Banks have provided up to 48 percent as credit so far. more..

Sep 17 (SLBC) Minister of Power and Energy Susil Premajayanth assures that 1197 workers recruited to the Ceylon Electricity Board under the Samurdhi contract basis will be made permanent. Several Interviews pertaining to this have already been completed. more..

Sep 17 (PIS) President Kumaratunga yesterday appealed to the Nations of the World to sanction terrorist groups that undermine States which respect internationally accepted laws and norms. "The engagement of armed groups for peace should not be done at the expense of the capability for democratic governance of a sovereign State," more..

Sep 17 (ANN) With the announcement of presidential elections, once again Sri Lanka is confronted with another decisive moment in its recent volatile history. Chandrika Kumaratunge, who governed Sri Lanka as the president for over a decade, ends her term shortly and more..

Sep 17 (ANN) A 24-year-old former bar dancer, Tarannum Khan, was arrested by the Crime Branch of Mumbai Police Sept 16 for her alleged connection with top cricket bookies and the Mumbai underworld. The penal action came after Crime Branch III officers had questioned her late into the night at her Tanishq bungalow at Lokhandwala Complex in Andheri (West). more..

Sep 17 (SAMN) The JHU said yesterday it believed Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse did not think on the lines of President Chandrika Kumaratunga and as such there was no fear of the Premier back tracking on his agreement with the monks if he became president. more..

Sep 17 (SAMN) Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse who made an unexpected appearance at the Patriotic National Movement (PNM) led Federation of National Organizations convention at the Maharagama Youth Centre yesterday made a patriotic plea to safe guard the country. more..

Sep 17 (LNP) The UNP said yesterday that presidential candidate Mahinda Rajapakse owes an explanation to the country on the Jathika Hela Urumaya`s solution to the ethnic issue. The UNP`s Deputy General Secretary Tissa Attanayake said that Jathika Hela Urumaya Treasurer H. M. G. B. Kotakadeniya`s call for `war`, as a means to resolve the ethnic issue requires an urgent clarification by Rajapakse. more..

Sep 17 (LNP) Army intelligence officers seeking arms for their personal protection, are now in a dilemma since the army Headquarters has asked them to prove they are under LTTE threat. A senior military official yesterday said many intelligence officers, including those serving in the north and east had written to the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) more..

Sep 17 (LNP) LTTE human rights front, the North East Secretariat for Human Rights, operating from Kilinochchi, has appealed to international human rights community to either halt the Sethusamurdam canal project until the north east conflict is over or accept the LTTE as a defacto state and an affected party. more..

Sep 17 (EC) Disruptive forces in Sri Lanka underworld would do anything to get rid of Marvan Atapattu as the country�s cricket captain. This is one of the more bizarre political twists in a scenario where the ICC�s anti-corruption security unit probe allegations of match-fixing more..

Sep 17 (AP) Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels shot dead a former guerrilla in northern Sri Lanka, the military said Saturday. Ratnam Sarvaloganathan, 46, a father of three, was gunned down Friday night in Vavuniya town, 210 kilometers (130 miles) north of the capital, Colombo, military spokesman Brig. Daya Ratnayake said. more..

Sep 17 (DN) BOOZING is to be prohibited in public places including beaches, with legislation already in the pipeline to give effect to this Government decision. In terms of the proposed laws, consuming liquor in designated public places that would include public parks, playgrounds, public transport and archaeological sites will be declared an offence. more..

Sep 17 (Xinhua) The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), headed by President Chandrika Kumaratunga, announced Friday that all the party Parliamentarians of SLFP canceled their foreign Tours with immediate effect, the Daily News reported Saturday. more..

Sep 17 (CI) An unbeaten 64 from Hasim Amla ensured that South Africa drew their three-day game against Sri Lanka A at Dambulla. Requiring 219 in their second innings to pull off a victory, the South Africans lost their first five wickets for only 53, but recovered to finish on 127 for 5. more..

Sep 17 (AFP) The political leader of the Tamil Tiger rebels has called for immediate talks with Sri Lanka's government to save a shaky ceasefire. Tamil Tiger political chief S.P. Thamilselvan said the rebel group was ready "even in the next minute" to begin talks with the government. more..

Sep 17 (CI) Hasantha Fernando produced a fine all-round performance to deny Leicestershire's hopes of reaching the final of the International 20:20 Championship at Grace Road. In a low-scoring game, Chilaw Marians were restricted to 112 for 9 in their 20 overs, with Fernando providing the bulk of the runs in his knock of 38 from 34 balls, more..

Sep 17 (TN) The support of Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) in the coming presidential poll would be for a political party that would not act in to weaken the strength of the Muslim political leadership, which has been endorsed by majority Muslim people in Sri Lanka, said Mr.Rauff Hakim, more..

Sep 18 (TN) "The LTTE is still ready for immediate talks on the implementation of the CFA, outside the island," reiterated Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan, Political Head of the LTTE, in an exclusive interview to the TamilNet on Friday. more..

Sep 18 (BBC) President Chandrika Kumaratunga and the Norwegian Prime minister have agreed to continue with the peace efforts. President Kumaratunga thanked the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minster for Norwegian Government's efforts at moving the LTTE away from open armed conflict by facilitating discussions. more..

Sep 18 (LT) UNP Parliamentarian Dr. Jayalath Jayawardene has visited Batticaloa to muster support of Wanni Tiger organization for UNP leader Ranil Wickremasinghe at the Presidential Election. He had gone with 15 to 20 Bhikkus and met Ilantharian alias Marshal, the political wing leader of the Wanni Tiger organization more..

Sep 18 (LT) Two officers of Nivithigala Police in Ratnapura District have been shot dead by a gang of robbers. The incident had happened at about 8.30 p.m. yesterday when the police officers tried to arrest the gang trying to rob a house. more..

Sep 18 (LT) Wanni tiger organization has agreed to allow the relatives of the three police officers, who are being detained, to visit them. This has been informed by tiger organization to the SLMM. However, SLMM says a date, time or a place has not been informed. more..

Sep 18 (AT) The President has decided to take firm stance against Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse who has, it is reported ignored the orders of her and took political decisions contrary what was told by her. more..

Sep 18 (AT) In an undisclosed location in Vanni, the LTTE leader Velupillai Pirapaharan has, (according to the Tamilnet) paid his respects to a framed photograph of Rasaiah Parthipan alias Lt. Col. Thileepan. more..

Sep 18 (AT) The Sinhalese nationalist party, Jathika Hela Urumiaya (JHU) is confident of President Kumaratunga backing SLFP Presidential candidate Mahinda Rajapakse, in the forthcoming Presidential elections. more..

Sep 18 (AT) Promises of politicians are galore to win elections, while some responsible ministers had the audacity to publicly broadcast that deceiving the people is also a part of the political game. more..

Sep 18 (TP) A delegation of senior Afghan election officials recently visited Sri Lanka on a study tour of elections systems and procedures ahead of Afghanistan�s first parliamentary elections on September 18, the Daily Mirror reported. more..

Sep 18 (TP) The nationalist Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), a group of Buddhist monks, plans to hold 1,000 meetings at the same number of temples all over the country to campaign for Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse�s victory at forthcoming presidential polls. more..

Sep 18 (TP) A Muslim political party has come forward to announce that it would be fielding a candidate at presidential polls due in November, the first non-mainstream political party to contest the polls. So far only the ruling party and the main opposition UNP have announced candidates for the polls. more..

Sep 18 (CI) Faisalabad Wolves beat Chilaw Marians in the final of the inaugural International 20:20 championship, thanks to a captain's innings of 45 from Naved Latif. The Wolves appeared to be coasting to their victory target of 133, as they reached 96 for 2 with little trouble, more..

Sep 18 (TN) Residents of Kevil, a village in Vadamaradchchi east division in Jaffna district Saturday informed the Jaffna Government that that they would launch a sit-in-protest campaign from September 22 if the civil authorities fail to repair the road and provide transport facilities to the village, more..

Sep 18 (SLA) Two Tamil Tigers repeated their terror tactics in the general area of NILAWELI, TRINCOMALEE Sunday morning (18) around 6.10 a.m. by throwing another hand grenade at the troops on duty near the SARVODAYA building. The grenade however did not explode as expected by those two Tamil Tigers. more..

Sep 18 (SLA) Tamil tigers hiding in a place in the general areas of MADCOW, TRINCOMALEE fired a few rounds towards the troops at a bunker of a Security Forces on 17 September 2005 around 7.55 p.m. However, firing rounds missed their target and landed elsewhere. more..

Sep 18 (LBO) A renovated old tea factory is now housing the one of the most unique industry related museums for tea close to the Kandy town. The venture is supported by all tea related industry associations with some of them extending even financial support. more..

Sep 18 (LBO) Central Bank, which has come under fire for lax monetary policy, printing money to finance the budget deficit and boosting inflation, took the somewhat unusual step of publicly responding to the International Monetary Fund's hard hitting staff report on the country's recent weak macro-economic management. more..

Sep 18 (LBO) Government says it will raise up to US$ 500 million in the international debt markets next year to finance identified infrastructure projects as concessional loans dry up. A highly placed government source says it plans to go out to the market with credit ratings from the three top international rating firms. more..

Sep 18 (SLBC) The uplifting of the local coconut oil production has been stressed. High production cost, extra taxes, and other imported substitutes have threatened the local coconut oil industry. There were more than 50 large scale producers earlier. more..

Sep 18 (Hindu) IT all started with concerned curiosity. Inexplicable injuries, unusually broken bones, irregular burn marks, unlikely bleeding and implausible explanations from parents made paediatrician Dr. Harendra De Silva a little suspicious. He kept a log and soon realised he had 85 cases of what he suspected to be child abuse. more..

Sep 18 (ANN) Merrill J. Fernando, widely acclaimed as an outstanding brand builder for a wholly indigenous brand of Ceylon Tea, has indicted the government "for its indifference to the fate that has befallen our tea industry." more..

Sep 18 (ANN) Neither friend nor foe can fault President Chandrika Kumaratunga, now on the last lap of the presidency she won in 1994, on the speech she made at the UN General Assembly earlier this week. more..

Sep 18 (BSS) Prime Minister Khaleda Zia had separate bilateral meetings with Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and Mozambique President Armando Emilo Guebuza at the UN headquarters here on Friday. more..

Sep 18 (PIS) The co-chairs of the Tokyo donor conference will meet in New York tomorrow for what the Norwegian peace facilitators described as an extraordinary meeting on the security situation in Sri Lanka Norwegian peace facilitators summoned the meeting after the failure of the government and the LTTE to agree on a venue for talks more..

Sep 18 (PIS) Brussels-based officials of EU member states again put off a decision on Sri Lanka�s call for sanctions against the LTTE, following the assassination of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar. more..

Sep 18 (PIS) The government strongly opposes overseas tours for the LTTE accused of assassinating Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar. Highly placed officials said that the government would resist attempts to arrange overseas visits for LTTE delegations on the pretext of study tours. more..

Sep 18 (LNP) Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse`s chief campaigners are studying foreign television debates among presidential candidates before officially accepting an invitation by local state and private television channels to take part in a debate with the main rival candidate, Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe. more..

Sep 18 (LNP) Is the LTTE, banned here as a foreign terrorist organisation, and its supporters deliberately defying Britain`s anti-terrorism laws' The Sri Lanka Government and some organisations that have sprung up here seem to think so. Sri Lanka has protested to the British authorities about the announced launch of `War and Peace`, authored by LTTE theoretician Anton Balasingham, who lives in England. more..